A McCormick alternative for the counting part of your bid

McCormick Systems sells full electrical estimating software: a database of over 55,000 items and 25,000 assemblies, labor, pricing updates and built-in takeoff in Design Estimating Pro, with Auto-count and a patented Auto Home Run¹². McCormick doesn't publish a price¹; Software Advice lists it from $300 per user a month³. AmpCount is a much narrower tool: it produces device and fixture counts from the legend on vector PDF sheets, keeps doubtful marks out until an estimator confirms them and flags fixture types that don't match the schedule, for $149 a month for up to 3 people.

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Written by Agustín Policano, founder of AmpCount. Facts about McCormick come from McCormick Systems's public pages, checked November 3, 2026. Sources at the end.

What McCormick is

McCormick, based in Chandler, Arizona, has served estimators for more than 45 years¹. Its electrical system covers commercial, industrial, low, medium and high voltage work, with databases for the USA and Canada, prevailing wage tables and adjustable labor units for all 50 states, and pricing updates from major pricing services or your supply house¹. Design Estimating Pro puts takeoff and estimating in one program². It's offered hosted or on-premises¹. Its closest peers are the other database-driven electrical suites, Trimble Accubid and Conest's IntelliBid suite.

AmpCount vs McCormick at a glance

	AmpCount	McCormick
What it is	Electrical takeoff for commercial contractors. Counts devices and fixtures on vector PDF plans.	Full electrical estimating: item and assembly database, labor, pricing, takeoff and bid management¹.
How counts start	Reads the legend, then matches every symbol on every sheet by its drawn geometry. No clicking to start.	Takeoff in Design Estimating Pro, with Auto-count and Auto Home Run running several takeoffs at once¹².
Uncertain symbols	Anything not an exact match is marked uncertain and stays out of the count until you confirm it.	Not described on McCormick's public pages¹².
Fixture schedule check	Checks counts against the fixture schedule and shows the sheet with the difference.	Not described on McCormick's public pages¹².
Pricing and labor	Not included. Bring the counts into your estimating software.	Core of the product: labor units, prevailing wage tables, supplier pricing¹.
Price	$149 a month or $1,490 a year, published. Up to 3 people, no sheet limits.	Not published by McCormick¹. Software Advice lists from $300 per user a month³.
Runs on	Browser, on Windows or Mac.	Hosted or on-premises¹.
Export	Excel, CSV and an estimating sheet with your item codes per drawing.	Proposals, reports and estimate vs actual reports from the estimating side¹.

Prices as listed on November 3, 2026. Check the vendor for a current quote.

To see McCormick next to the rest of the field, the electrical estimating software guide lists 14 tools with their published prices, and the electrical takeoff software guide explains the four ways software counts a plan set.

Where McCormick is strong

Takeoff and estimating in one program, so counts carry labor and material as you take off¹².
Auto Home Run, a patented tool for running takeoffs from multiple endpoints¹.
Databases for the USA and Canada and prevailing wage tables for all 50 states¹.
In-house US support that McCormick says answers in under 10 minutes on average¹².

Where AmpCount is different

A second count, not a second suite

AmpCount doesn't replace McCormick's database, labor or Auto Home Run. It hands you checked counts per drawing to enter where you price, or to compare with the takeoff in Design Estimating Pro.

Every mark accounted for

Exact geometric matches are counted and everything else waits in an uncertain list. Click a count and every mark behind it shows on the sheet, which makes a side-by-side check with McCormick's Auto-count quick.

Lighting schedule cross-check

AmpCount totals fixtures by type tag, holds each total against the fixture schedule and opens the sheet behind any mismatch, a check McCormick doesn't describe on its public pages¹².

Published, per team

McCormick doesn't list prices on its site¹. AmpCount is $149 a month for up to 3 people with no sheet limits, and a full refund within 14 days.

The matching is plain geometry, step by step, as shown in how AmpCount works. A vision model helps read titles, legends and schedules but never confirms a mark or counts, as the AI electrical takeoff guide explains.

Where the time goes in a McCormick takeoff

McCormick ties the takeoff to the estimate: as you count and measure in Design Estimating Pro, labor hours and material prices come along¹². That's the value of a full suite, and it follows the order of a manual electrical estimate: quantities first, then labor and material. The counting itself still needs setup and checking per device and fixture type, and a full electrical set has many of them across power and lighting sheets.

AmpCount starts from the legend and counts all types across all sheets together. What's left is one list of uncertain marks and any fixture type where the plans disagree with the schedule, which you can clear before quantities go into McCormick.

Cost for a 3-person team

McCormick doesn't publish a price¹. Software Advice lists it from $300 per user a month³, which for three estimators would be $10,800 a year, as of November 3, 2026. That price buys a full estimating system, not only counts. Of the desktop electrical suites compared here, Best Bid is the one sold for a published one-time price⁴.

Next to that, AmpCount is $149 a month for up to 3 people, or $1,490 a year on the yearly plan. Its scope is much smaller, device and fixture counts on vector PDFs. If you already own McCormick, AmpCount is an addition for counting, not a replacement.

Run the numbers for your shop

Keep McCormick, check the count

Run the plan set through AmpCount alongside, or instead of, the counting in Design Estimating Pro.
Resolve the uncertain marks and the fixture types flagged against the schedule.
Set the McCormick assembly code on each symbol the first time you see it.
Pull the per-drawing sheet of codes, quantities and units.
Enter quantities against your assemblies in McCormick, or use the totals to check its takeoff.

Pricing the counts by hand for now? The electrical estimate template and the electrical estimate calculator take quantities straight from the export.

Before you switch

List what you use McCormick for beyond counts: labor, pricing, home runs, change orders.
Check that the PDFs you load into Design Estimating Pro are vector files, not scans.
Compare one bid's Auto-count totals in McCormick with AmpCount's totals, type by type, on a shared takeoff sheet.
Check your McCormick contract or renewal terms before changing anything.

Choose McCormick if

You want takeoff, labor, pricing and home runs in one commercial electrical estimating system.
You bid prevailing wage work across states and want those tables built in¹.

Choose AmpCount if

You price elsewhere, or by spreadsheet, and only need device and fixture counts done fast.
You want a second, independent count checked against the fixture schedule before bid day.
You don't want a sales conversation just to learn what counting costs.

Get started, $149/mo

Cancel anytime. Full refund within 14 days if it doesn't fit your plans.

Questions

How much does McCormick electrical estimating cost?

McCormick doesn't publish prices on its site¹. Software Advice lists McCormick Electrical Estimating from $300 per user a month, billed monthly, as of November 3, 2026³. Ask McCormick for a quote for your setup.

Does AmpCount replace McCormick?

No. McCormick does pricing, labor, home runs and bid management¹. AmpCount produces device and fixture counts and a fixture schedule check, which you can enter in McCormick or use to check its takeoff.

McCormick already has Auto-count. Why add AmpCount?

If McCormick's Auto-count¹² handles your sets well, you may not need to. AmpCount suits shops that price elsewhere, or that want a separate count that keeps uncertain marks out of the total and checks the fixture schedule.

Does AmpCount do home runs or conduit?

No. AmpCount doesn't route conduit, measure runs or size wire. McCormick's Auto Home Run covers that part¹.

Does AmpCount need the same drawings McCormick uses?

It needs vector PDFs exported from Revit, AutoCAD and other CAD software. If you take off from those PDFs in Design Estimating Pro, upload a copy; scanned sheets are flagged instead of guessed.

Other comparisons

Guides and calculators

Sources

McCormick is a trademark of McCormick Systems. AmpCount is not affiliated with McCormick Systems. If something here is out of date, email support@ampcount.com and we'll fix it.